Automatic regulator for incubators



March 3, 1931. F. S. VMOKIBBEN.

' AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR INCUBATORs Filed March 18. 1929 Patented Mar. 3, 1951 FRANK S. MGKIIBBEN, OE CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA AUTOTvZATEC REGULATOR FQR ENCUBATOBS Application filed March 18, 1829.

The Object is to providea regulator that will automatically maintain a good hatching temperature for twenty-four hours, the temperature produced beingnct more than 103 5 degrees at any time in room temperature of about 100 degrees and not less than 102 deextinguishmentr Rising of the sleeve lowers M the flame and vice versa In the further descriptlo-n, reference made to the drawings herewith in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout. Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the regulator mounted in operative position upon an incubator. All of the parts are shown but some are partly broken away. Figure 2 is an end elevational view with the burner and flue of the lamp shown partially in section. Figure 3 is a perspective of the adjust ing stopspiece which is shownin front ele- 'vation in Figure 1. A thermostat 1 of any desired type is mounted upon a stirrup or bracket 2 bymeans of the'screw 3 and is thus attached to the top of the incubator. An upright rod 4- rests upon the top of thethermostat and passes through a hole 5 in the top of the incubator and is there connected with other operative parts above. A fulcrum support 6 for the primary lever 7 is attached to v the top of the incubator near the hole. One

end of thevprimary lever is 'fulcrumed on.

this support. The lever extends toward and nearly to the lamp and in its under side near 45 receive the upper end of the rod 4. The socket divides the lever into two very unequal arms so that its free end moves twenty or thirty times as far as the rod moves.

The support 8 for the fulcrum 9 of the secondary lever 10 is attached tothe top -:of

the fulcrum, a' shallow socket is formed to Serial No. 347,921.

the incubator directly :under the primary lever andclose to its free on The free end: of the pr mary lever is connected tothe secondary lever about half an inch from its fulcrum'by means of the flattened ring or link 11. The upper end of the link rests in a notch in th upper edge and near the end of the primary lever. There is a notch 12 in the under edge of the secondary lever about half an-inch from its fulcrum 9. The lever passes through the opening of the link and the notch 12 rests on the inner side of the lower endo-f the link. -Notches are not a necessity and in some places, other forms of connections will be preferable. The fulcrumshould he loose in its bearings. Foreconomy in ma ring, the secondary lever with fulcrum attached may be cut from sheet metal in one piece and bent to aroper shape It is eight or ten inches long with the fulcrum near the middleythough'the exact location is not im portant. The-secondary leverextends to a point a little beyond the extended central line of the flue It ends in an incline M which will be convenient for thedaily assembling or making the daily pilot flame. me e to the incline there is a small notch 15 I the upper edge of the secondary lever 10 ich engages a similar notch 16 in the under edge of the top horizontal part 16a of the hanger. I a

The hangeris for the purpose of transmitg exact movements from the secondary lever 10 to the sleeve without passing down throughthe flue by holding the sleeve adennite and constant vertical distance from the lever. Forthe sake of uniformity, rigidity and low-costthe hanger maybe cut in one piece from sheet metal by a die. It is in the form of a frame consisting of three parts. A top part 160 is disposed horizontally across the secondary lever 10 near its end, their respective notches engaging each other to prevent slipping. The part 16?) is disposed horizontally to operate on the level of the burner. A third part 160 is disposed vertically outside of the boiler and flue 13 soias to unite the parts lficz'and 166 at their left hand ends. The right hand end of the latter overlaps the sleeve and is brazedto it. As the object of the brazing 1s to hold the sleeve always in the same position as related to the hanger, the attachment may be made b means of any latch or other holder that will thus hold the sleeve fixedly for operative purposes and yet may be removed and replaced at will. The sleeve is mounted slidably on the wick tube 18 which acts as a guideway. The sleeve by these connections,

is adapted to swing freely from the lever 1O and to follow its vertical movements asthe lever rises by the force of the eiipanding thermostat and falls by the force of gravity as the thermostat cools. The burner in common use may be used, but I prefer certain modifications. The usual perforated disc which forms the floor of the burner is very liable to interfere with the movements of the sleeve whose lowest position should be almost touching the crowned top of the star wheel chamher. Therefore, the disc should not be used.

The body of the burner below the cap isa hollow cylinder or shell 20 which is closed at its top by the cap. The bottom is also closed and screws into the lamp'bowl. The sides of the cylinder are perforated to admit air and yet to protect the flame from air drafts. A deep, narrow notch 21 extends through the thickness of the shell from its top almost to its bot tom.' The lower part of the hanger, 16b, passes through this notch for actuating the sleeve. burner, but merely indicate how the well known burner should be modified for my purposes. It may be seen byinspecting Figure 2 that a greater part of the weight of the hanger is on the left side of the lever 10. This causes a tendency for the sleeve to swing to the right and rub against the wick tube making more or less objectionable friction. To correct this tendency, a small weight 19 is attached to the part 16a of'the hanger to the right of the lever 10. The weight is to be adjusted to bring the center of the sleeve to the center of the wick tube. But a small amount of unavoidable friction will not be noticeable. Therefore,.with previous careful experiment the hanger may be cut in one piece with suliicient accuracy that I a separate weight and later adjustment will not be needed.

In the operation of this regulator, the weight of the hanger and sleeve, indirectly suspended from the end of the primary lever 7 and the weight of the lever itself must be 7 end is attached to the top of the incubator, isbent over'and, at the'other end is inserted I make no claim in reference to the under the primary lever near its end. The adjustment of the spring will be described later.

A principal feature of my invention is shown in Figures 1 and is a single piece cut by a die from sheet metal and bent to desired shape. A base plate Qilserves to fasten the piece to the top of the incubator. A frame 24: set on edge is continuous along it ge, with the has plate and two tables and 26 continuous along one end of each with the frame. The tables are cent nearly to a horizontal position to form stops, one above and one below, between which the further end of the secondary lever 10 oscillates at irregular intervals according to temperature. -ihe tables are about three eighths of an inch apart plus the vertical thickness of the lever, provided the fulcrum is th middle of the lever and provided the sleeve must rise three eighths of an inch above its lowestposition to make a pilot flame which is usual for a'number 2 wick. To make the tables operative and effective steps, they must be adjusted. This may be quickly done in connection with the spring 22 already partially described.

For ng the spring and the table a temperature of 102 degrees is require-cl. This will be understood when the construction and operation of the invention have been'further considered. The heat required f r the adjustments may be supplied by a L p but when there is considerable number of incubators to be made, it will doubtless be found much more economical to heat T it steam or hot water. But herein the adjusts an illustratien. The lamp mustbe fitted with a temporary stop that may be made in a convenient way that will prevent the sleeve from higher than its lowest position and not interfe e with the fiame. There are several ways of making such a-stop and one that is applied to the top of the hanger will be good and economical. But further description herein. will hardly'be in place.

The fully equipped and lighted lamp is put in place against thebottom of the flue and held by a shelf or lamp holder having a suitable latch to draw the burner snugly up against the line and drop down out of the way when it is loosenec. \Vhen'the temperature is at 102 degrees, the sleeveis raised only a very little, up against the. temporary stop, its top being thus made level with the tcp of the wick tube, its lowest position. The raising must be done by means of the screw 3 so as to put all parts under the same strain will be upon them in operation. The

LLLtLit/ screw is to be turned bymeans of a pair of pliers or special tool applied to the rod 4- j'ust below the primary lever 7; lVhile the sleeve is thus held in its lowest position, the

llO

table is bent down to make contact without pressure with the secondary lever 10. In operation this Contact will prevent the sleeve from going lower than its lowest position so that afterward, a slightly upward movement of it will have an immediate e fect in pan tially reducing the size of the flame thus making the device more sensitive. This adjustment also establishes a base upon which other adjustments are made. Also, in oper ation this contact continues, making a full flame that is not affected by any lower tem perature, till the temperature rises a little above 102 degrees, after which the rising temperature causes the sleeve to-rise rapidly tomake a pilot flame at 108 degrees and during the same time the further end of the lever 10 is lowered away from the table stop toward the table stop 26.

After the adjustment of the table stop 25 the temperature is carefully raised to 103 degrees. This temperature is essential for adjusting the table stop'26 though not so important for the adjustment of the spring which is adjusted by bending it to make slight upward pressure on the lever when the temperature is right. The spring should be made of proper tension to allow the sleeve to go to its lowestposition promptly but not with force when the temperature declines'to 102 degrees. W hen the temperature rises to i 103 degrees after the adjustment of the stop 25 the sleeve should be raised three ei rhths of 14- an inch above its lowest posltion and while it is held at that the stop 26 should be bent up to'make contact without pressure with the lever 10. The sleeve must be raised by of the screw; as before and for the same reason. After the adjustments, a pilot flame will be made automatically whenever the temperature reaches 103 degrees, provided the daily pilot flame shall have been made as described later on and provided the distance, three eighths of an inch, has been experimentally found to be correct for wicks of the same size that is used. When the sleeve is raised to its proper highest position, a mark or stop placed on the temporary stop will be a reliable and convenient gage to be used in all future regulators using; the same size of wicks, whether heated by a lamp or otherwise. It. will be noted that the flame is not used for making adjustments but for heating. However, there is another way, equally good,

for adjusting by'means of the lame.

All the foregoing specifications refer to manufacturing, assembling and adjusting in the factory. The ultimateiuser and owner will not be interested in them and they should never be changed. The only one of such things in which the user will be interested will be the making of the daily pilot flame. There is but one way to start and operate this regulator and that is to makea daily pilot flame. Every time after the flame has been extinguished for cleaning and filling or for any other purpose. It takes only two or three minutes.- It is made thus: The lamp, filled and cleaned, is placed on a table. The burner cap isremovedor turned back on its hinge. The sleeve, with the hanger attached, is lowered upon the wick tube, the lower part 166 of the hanger entering the deep narrow notch 21 leaving the part 160 upright. The cap is put in place. Now thelamp is lighted and turned low and ralsed up to put the burner against the flue. \Vhile one hand holds the lamp, the other raises the lamp shelf or holder up, against the bottom of the lamp and latches it so as to draw the burner snugly against the flue. hangeris now slipped over the incline at the end of the lever 10 into the notch being careful not to lift the hanger for doing so might extinguish the flame unless it is first turned high enoughto burn the fingers. A folded cotton rag will protect the fingers.

itha left finger under the end of the lever 7 raise the sleeve as far as it'will go, that is,

till'the further end of the lever 10 goes down and strikes the stop 26. But while this is being done, the flame must be watched and turned up by the rightthumb and finger on the wick wheel so as to prevent extinguishment. While the sleeve is thus held inits high est position, the flame is turned higheror lower to make the smallest flame that will continue to burn and not go out. This is thev daily pilot flame. Let the levers down. Though the flame will be large at first, it will be under the complete control of the thermostat. Afterwardthe'pilot flame will returnautomatically whenever the temperature rises to 103 degrees and the temperature will seldom beless than 102 degrees if the roomtemperature is good for comfortable, living, that,

is, from '60 to 100 degrees." A thermometer cannot be, used'to regulate the temperature while this regulator is working. But, if the user wantsto try the oldqway, he can easily do so by ne leetingto make the daily pilot flame and then using a thermometer. He can, at any time, return tothe. automatic regulation by makings daily pilot flame. Even for knowing sufiiciently the temperature of the room, a thermometer is not needed. When the pilot flame continues more than five or ten minutes at atime, the room is near the danger point; and should be cooled by.

The upper part of the i self. Also, for the most part the methods of assembling and adjusting are described for the purpose of suggestion and illustration rather than as fixed rules, for in many respects,"other plans will be good or better economically, though the operative results are so nearly perfect that improvement is hardk 1y possible. The statements made in reference to the operation of this regulator and purporting to be facts are not theoretical speculations but have resulted from long and careful observation and experiment with a real incubator in reel incubation repeated several times and always with excellent results.

Having thus, described my invention, I claim as new Y 1. In temperature control means for an incubator, the combination with a heating lamp having a wick tube, a flue and a flame control sleeve slidably mounted on said tube, a control thermostat and a lever actuated by said thermostat, the free end of said lever extending to a point directly over said flue, of means outside the flue for operatively connecting the free end of said lever to the sleeve.

2. In temperature control means for an incubator, the combination with a heating lamp having a wick tube, a flueand a flame control sleeve slidably mounted on said tube, a control thermostat and a lever actuated by said thermostat, the free end of said levers extending to a point directlyrover said flue,'of

means outside the flue for operatively connecting the free end of said lever to the sleeve,said means comprising a U-shaped hanger.

3; In temperature control means for an in cubator, the combination witha heating lamp having a wick tube, a flue and a flame control sleeve slidably mounted on said tube, a controlthermostat and a lever actuated by said thermostat, the free end of said lever extending to a point directly over said flue, of

means outside the flue for operatively connecting the free end of said lever to the sleeve, said means comprising a U-shaped hanger having two horizontal legs, an upper one b eing disposed crosswise to be actuated by said lever and a lower one disposed so as to be attached to said sleeve for actuating it.

FRANK S. MoKIBBEN. 

